June 06, 2011

Morning Coffee has moved.

I'm considering moving to Blogger, for several reasons, so I'll be trying it out this week. Don't delete this link yet, but head over here for the moment. And let me know if you have any strong preferences for either site! (Through this week, I'll be giving you links to posts over there, but it couldn't hurt to add the feed to your feed reader. Or do the Google/Blogger following thing, if you're into that sort of thing.) I'll have a little more about the change up over there later today. Thanks!

June 02, 2011

Restaurant Review: Crush Pizza in Nashua, NH

As I've mentioned before, I am rather picky about pizza and have had an awful time finding decent pizza up here in New Hampshire. (I'm from Connecticut. Italian food is done well there. I'm spoiled.) For the past few months I've been talking to the folks behind Crush Pizza on Twitter and looking at their pictures of example pizzas and letting myself hope. So, of course, I had to go check it out on opening night earlier this week, and . . .

The Quick Take: Oh my goodness! Real pizza! In New Hampshire! This is amazing! I'm so excited! I shall become a regular!

Some details . . .

The Ambience: Nothing breathtaking, but it's perfectly pleasant and a nice use of the space. There are a good number of tables, but it doesn't feel crowded, and it's barely recognizable as a converted Quiznos. There are Italian-themed prints on the walls, and the music was a decent classic rock mix.

The Menu: You can view it here (PDF). The focus is definitely the pizza, but there's a broad (though shallow) range of salads, appetizers, wings, steak tips, grilled meat entrees, sandwiches, and desserts. There's lots of meat AND plenty of options for vegetarians, which is always helpful.

The Salad: I had a caprese salad, and it was fine - pretty standard. The tomatoes were a little cold, but it was otherwise good. The cheese was high-quality and I liked that it came with a decent-sized clump of spring mix on the side.

The Pizza: I got the margherita pizza with added artichokes (pictured above). The crust was great - thin and properly charred, and char is hard to find up here. The sauce tasted fresh, and not too sweet as pizza sauce often is. The mozzarella was good, although I did wish there was a little more of it. The artichokes went with the rest well, and I was thrilled to find artichokes as a standard option. The pizzas are all one size - what you see in the picture is half of it - and they're designed to be one serving, though I ate two of the four pieces and took the other half home.

The Dessert: I tried the panna cotta. It was a little more berry-intensive than I expected - there was some sort of berry compote covering the top - but delicious!

Drinks: There were no beverages on the menu, and for now they seemed to have Pepsi-brand fountain beverages as well as cappuccino and espresso. (I just had water.) They're promising a full wine list and selection of craft beers in the future, so I'll update this post if they have those options next time I'm there.

Reheating: An often-overlooked but important aspect! I took half my pizza home and reheated it in the toaster (never put pizza in the microwave!) the next evening. While it wasn't as good as it was straight out of the oven, of course, it reheated well, retaining its structural integrity without becoming stiff. And it was definitely still tasty!

The Service: There was the normal opening-night roughness, of course, but the staff was very friendly and attentive. And even though I was eating alone and reading, they didn't rush me - always a plus.

The Verdict: Overall, this was a great experience and I am definitely planning to make Crush my new default pizza place. They're at 449 Amherst St. in Nashua, NH. In addition to dining in, they offer takeout and promise online ordering soon.

Morning Coffee (5/31/11)

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. (Or just a great weekend, if you're not in the US.) Sorry for the lack of posts - I didn't mean to totally disappear like that, but I think I needed the break. But now Morning Coffee is BACK, in a slightly different format - instead of a list of links you should read, I'm going to give you a sort of cultural to-do list for the day. So we'll see how that goes. Let me know if you like it!

Local folk - stop in at Crush Pizza today for their grand opening. I am SO excited about this place, as I live in hope of finding decent pizza in New Hampshire.

If you're on Tumblr, follow me at KateLinnea. Warning: That feed is less about the content and more about an endless stream of pictures of hot actors, pretty landscapes, and Nina Dobrev and Taylor Swift being flawless.

And check back here later for my recommendations for summer TV shows to try.